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Roll Call/September 2010
|} ] The September issue was released on September 6th, 2010, and was the fourth issue of Volume One of Roll Call. PDF Version *Click here to download the issue in PDF format =Online Version= Cover Stories West Canaan Wizards Sneak Peak Along the county line of Cottle and King Counties, about halfway between Paducah and Guthrie, Texans speak of an odd place. A place where queer things happen with no right reasoning behind them at all. That place is West Canaan. Now, most Texans know about West Canaan High School thanks to the Coyotes football team that has been a leader in the region for years, but what they don’t know is that West Canaan is also home to another school: the West Canaan Wizarding School! West Canaan Wizards is an upcoming game in development by the Organization of Gamers & Roleplaying Enthusiasts, set to be released in July of 2011. The game is inspired by the all-American coming-of-age film "Varsity Blues" and the completely not-American with inappropriate depictions of ability at certain ages "Harry Potter." The player takes on the roll of a Wizard enrolled in West Canaan Wizarding School in rural Texas, and must deal with funding shortages due to the No Wizard Left Behind Act, pedophile teachers, magic gone awry, rural Texans, post-puberty hormones, and West Canaan’s magically-endued serial killer and detention-bound student Skullz - the chain-lightening-from-a-chainsaw maniac hellbent on being the top of the class at graduation - by eliminating the entire class. The game is being released as an adventure utilizing the QAGS system available from Hex Games. The OGREs are accepting Playtesters currently (complete with play testing credit in the released product) and members can apply for material to run with their chapter by contacting the Director of Communications. Proceeds from the sale of the game will help fund operations of OGREs in 2011. For more in-depth information and peaks at the game, as well as updates during editing, follow the game on OgreLair.org! 28K Project The O.G.R.E.s are proud to announce our participation in Gamers for Humanity's 28k Project. Gamers for Humanity is a non-profit group, like ourselves, that focuses on all types of gamers getting out and giving back to their communities by assisting in charitable work and volunteerism. They've recently announced the beginning of the 28k Project. The premise is that there are an average of 28,000 attendees every year at Gen Con, and if each attendee volunteered just one hour throughout the year, gamers would be giving 28,000 hours of assistance to those who need it. The goal is to achieve a recorded 28k hours of community work by gamers before Gen Con Indy 2011. So, you and your chapter are tasked with placing some effort into civic engagement, in order to better our communities. Available on OgreLair.org and GamersForHumanity.org, is the official time submission form and rules. Get your records to the Director of Communications, and he'll forward it to Gamers for Humanity. At the end of the project, the chapter that has contributed the most time towards the goal will receive a prize pack of games, all provided by gaming companies and distributors who agree with the concept of the project. In addition to awards inside O.G.R.E.s, the project sponsor Gamers for Humanity has prizes available as well! You can keep track of the overall progress by viewing the 28k Thermometer at GamersForHumanity.org. A step-by-step guide is below: *Step 1: Download the 28k Project Entry Form and Rules. *Step 2: Bring that form with you when you volunteer with a qualifying non-profit in the United States (see rules for details). *Step 3: Have the staff fill out the form when you are done working, and mail it to us, or use the online form. (Copy this to the Director of Communications, or you can send it to him directly and he'll forward it on!) *Step 4: Go to www.GamersForHumanity.org, and tell us about your experience. How was it? What did you learn? Who did you meet? What did you do? You or a member of the non-profit organization you volunteer with must fill out the form and mail it back to us before your story will be accepted to the 28k Project. Alternatively, you or a member of the organization may fill out the form online by following the links in the menu to the left, which contains the same information. Note that stories and hours submitted will not be accepted if we are unable to contact the non-profit organization in question. Annual Awards The 2010 Annual Awards nomination period ended at the end of August. The nominees and winners are listed below. Congratulations to everyone! ;Award - Most Valuable Player :Lacey Wilson, Quilt City Ogres, 7 Votes Winner! :Russell Hooper, Friendly City Ogres, 2 votes :Brandon Boatright, Sic City Ogres, 4 votes :Hooper, Quilt City Ogres, 3 votes ;Award - Face of the Party (Chapter Coordinator of the Year) :Brandon Boatright, Sic City Ogres, 5 votes Winner! :Hooper, Quilt City Ogres, 3 votes ;Award - Game Master Award (Senior Game Master of the Year) :Walter H. Pfeifer-Thompson, Quilt City Ogres, 3 votes Winner! ;Award - Most Valuable Chapter :Quilt City Ogres - 4 votes :Sic City Ogres - 4 votes Winner! :Sin City Ogres - 1 vote ;Award - E-Lair Award :Quilt City Ogres - 3 votes Winner! :Stronghold Ogres - 2 votes Monthly Columns Director's Dialog Hello everyone! September is here, or at least the Santas being placed in department stores lead me to believe. That means that next month is October, and with October comes the first CAMP OGGIE! Camp Oggie will be a weekend of gaming, food, camping, the outdoors, and general good times. The event will take place from October 22nd to the 24th, with Ogres arriving around 7:00 pm Friday and packing up after lunch on Sunday. The great Boy Scouts of America’s very own Camp Roy C. Manchester will be the host site, a great campground located close to Benton, Kentucky and situated in it’s own bay of Kentucky Lake. We’ll even be "roughing it" with a cabin and showers! I just wanted to make sure you’re aware early enough that you’ll hopefully be able to come. There is more info about the event on page 9 of this issue of Roll Call, and you can find exhaustive information on OgreLair.org. The October issue will heavily feature the event as well - so you’ll have no excuse! Come have a good time with fellow Ogres. Additionally in this issue, you’ll find information on Gamers for Humanity’s noble “28k Project” and how the O.G.R.E.s will be showing our support; preview the upcoming OGRE release "West Canaan Wizards;" and get a sneak peak at the redesigned OgreLair.org! Until next month, clear your schedule and make room for Camp Oggie, and have some fun game nights! - Director SGM's Monologue I know what you're thinking... No, the article did not get a haircut, but it does look a little different. Figured it out yet? That's right, there's been a name change. At the recent quarterly board of director's meeting, it was decided that the official titles would be changed from Supreme-/Senior Dungeon Master to Supreme-/Senior Game Master. Any of you SGMs may still refer to yourself as an SDM if you like. In many eyes, they are interchangeable terms (Although personally, I consider DM to be a subset of GM). I brought up the issue of switching to a more generic term mainly as an effort to not appear exclusionary. There are a lot of RPGs out there and only a very few of them have dungeon masters. While many of us had a our first role-playing experience under the watchful eye of a DM, I feel it is more proper, and reduces possible confusion about how many games the OGREs support, to use GM as the organizational default. If you folks have anything to say on the issue on usage of DM v. GM, I'd love to hear it. Do you use them interchangeably? Are you offended by one term or another in certain situations? Also at the board meeting, we elected a new member of the board. Congratulation to SIC City OGRE, Brandon Boatright! We're very glad to have you as part of the team. After some deliberation about location and date, the upcoming OgreCon has become Camp Oggie and is being held in October. If you are interested in experiencing a fantastic weekend of gaming and general fun, keep an eye out on the wiki and facebook for event details. I must say that I am pretty thrilled about such a unique convention setting. "Camp Oggie" may even become the standard in future years. As always, I highly encourage all Senior GMs (and anybody, really) to get in touch with me, tell me about games going on in your chapters, send in questions for my Ask a GM blog, and maybe tell me a little about you and your chapter as people. I'd love to get to know you guys & gals. Good luck, and good gaming. - Supreme Game Master Dir. of Comms. Update Hello, and welcome to our all-new and snazzy Roll Call. Well, okay, it has one snazzy page at the beginning - but it is a start! So much to discuss in this issue: Camp Oggie, the 28k Chapter Challenge, Annual Awards, the new Webmaster, the new Treasurer, and the aftereffects of the third quarter board meeting! You may also notice that we’ve re-branded our Senior Dungeon Master into the more universal Senior Game Master, the same going for our board member: the Supreme Game Master. Members may still use the term interchangeably, we’ve just decided that the SGM version of the title is more welcoming to the general role-playing community. Bureaucracy, basically! Anyways, I look forward to seeing our chapters across the states come into their own during the chapter challenge, and can’t wait to see all your faces at Camp Oggie. If you have any questions or comments, just shoot me an email at the address provided on the contact page or catch me online at OgreLair.org. - Director of Communications Treasurer's Report At the recent third quarter meeting of the Board of Directors for 2010, I decided to step down as Webmaster. Numerous reasons led me to this decision, which included not having the time or assistance to devote to getting the new site launched as fast as we would all like. However, I’ve put my talents to use and accepted the position of Treasurer, to get the OGREs into the 21st century with an online paypal account associated with our bank account. This would assist us greatly, mainly allowing those members who (bless them all) contribute small funds, a bit at a time, in order to help our organization fund the small amount of bills we have. These "donated dues", as we like to call them,, provide the OGREs with enough to cover the cost of domains and to help fund the events, such as Camp Oggie, that we put on. So, look for a paypal secure button to show up once the new site is launched, which will allow you - yeah, I’m looking at you, with that big ole heart of yours, to help out and support a great cause. As little as 5 cents a day can feed a child in Bratislava, and as little as $5 a month can help us help you! Its like a self-serving donation! --Treasurer Webmaster's World Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce myself! I’m Steve, but you may have caught me online as "Kingyak". I’ve been a gamer for decades, and am a part of Hex Games, a game publisher for the QAGS system. At the recent Board meeting, I was handpicked to be the new Webmaster, and the fact that I had already build a prototype of the new site may have helped with my campaign. I’m a man of few words, so here is the deal: a new site is on the way, it’ll be a content management website. The current OgreLair.org wiki will still serve as a backbone reference site where members may interact and recruits may really get in-depth information, but the new site will be geared towards recruiting new chapters. Marketing! Because in 2011, we’ve got a goal of increasing our active chapters by 30 percent! We’re hoping to have the new website up by the November issue (as you may have guessed by us stuffing it down your throat - Camp Oggie is the number one priority these next two months), and we’ll get all the new kinks and cobwebs worked out by the new year. --Webmaster Ask a Game Master *To see this article, please visit the SGM's blog here on OgreLair.org Advocacy and You *To see this article, please visit Tuesday Truths Chapter Spotlight The Friendly City Ogres are one of the newer (2010 Model) chapters of OGREs, located in Eastern Tennessee in the city of Athens - the “Friendly City.” The group formed in early 2010 after learning about OGREs through another Tennessee-based gaming group. Its members constitute the third Hooper family (unrelated) in OGREs, making the Hoopers the most prolific OGRE family! They’ve recently had a member relocate further south, who is attempting to locate a new gaming group in that area to Ogreize! *Name: Friendly City Ogres *Location: Athens, TN *Founded: Early 2010 *# of Active Members: Nine *Chapter Coordinator: Russell Hooper *Senior Game Master: Scott W. *Website: FCOgres.Webs.com Recent Awards ;Honorary Membership :For recognition of support of O.G.R.E.s or great accomplishments in the gaming industry :Monte Cook :Sue Weinlein Cook :Peter Adkison :Ed Greenwood :Steve Jackson :R.A. Salvatore :Skip Williams :Cindy Jones (Sic City Ogres) :Delores Stuby (Sic City Ogres) ;DM Badge :Serving as a Dungeon Master for a chapter :Brandon Boatright :Shane Jones :Jordan Colson :David McDonald :Dan Thom :Mac Headrick ;Distinguished Service Award :For distinguished service :Jordan Colson (Sic City Ogres) ;Advocacy Badge :For promoting and advocating gaming :Brandon Boatright (Sic City Ogres) :Jordan Colson (Sic City Ogres) Recent Promotions ;David McDonald :Sic City Ogres ::From Private to Knight-Captain ;Steve Johnson :Quilt City Ogres ::From Marshall to Field Marshall ;Jordan Colson :Sic City Ogres ::From Sergeant to Master Sergeant ;User:Hragged :Stronghold Ogres ::From Private to Knight-Captain Upcoming Events September, 2010 ;6th :Labor Day - Everywhere :Host: Government :Attendees: Worker Bees ;11th :Patriot Day - United States :Host: U.S. Government :Attendees: U.S. Citizens ;25th :Vegas Game Day in Las Vegas, NV :Host: Sin City Ogres :Attendees: Sin City Ogres, Vegas Gamers ;26th - October 2nd :Read an RPG Book in Public Week - Everywhere :Host: TheEscapist.com and the CAR-PGa :Attendees: All October, 2010 ;22nd - 24th :Camp Oggie at Camp Roy C. Manchester on Kentucky Lake near Benton, KY :Host: O.G.R.E.s :Attendees: Ogres from numerous chapters Happy Birthdays September *Cameron Hamby, Nomad - September 8th, 1988 *Aimee Hooper, Quilt City Ogres - September 21st, 1984 *Stephanie Hooper, Vette City Ogres - September 21st, 1968 *Kelsey Phelps, Quilt City Ogres - September 30th, 1988 October *Alisha Cooper, Quilt City Ogres - October 3rd, 1990 *Kai Child, Quilt City Ogres - October 7th, 1991 *Walter H. Pfeifer-Thompson, Quilt City Ogres - October 11th, 1981 * Help the OGREs compile their membership birthday database by contacting the Director of Communications with yours! Happy Anniversaries *Jake Kubitschek & Lacey Wilson, Quilt City Ogres - 9/15/2009 It may be the easiest way for you to get another reminder not to forget - and we can help keep that dog house void of human life a little longer! Officer Contact Information ;Director :Jake Kubitschek :: ;Vice Director :Hooper : ;Editor-in-Chief :Vacant :N/A ;Acting Treasurer :Hooper : ;Director of Communications :Hooper : ;Supreme Dungeon Master :Walter Pfeifer-Thompson :Email ;Webmaster :Shawn Cain :Email ;New Chapter Recruitment Committee :Hooper : ;Gaming Advocacy :Lacey Wilson : ;Marketing & Promotion :Vacant :N/A ;Roll Call Editor :Hooper : ;Assistant Editor :Vacant :N/A ;Roll Call Staff :Walter Pfeifer-Thompson : ;Lacey Wilson : ;Shawn Cain : ;Steve Johnson : ;Jake Kubitschek : ---- Back To: OgreLair.org → Organization of Gamers & Roleplaying Enthusiasts → Ogres Portal → Roll Call Category:Browse Category:Roll Call